


Pierce

by i_am_therefore_i_fight



Category: The Little Mermaid (1989)
Genre: Ace!Ariel, Asexual!Ariel, Eric is a good dude, F/M, and Ariel is hardcore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-09 23:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6928726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_am_therefore_i_fight/pseuds/i_am_therefore_i_fight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not in Ariel's nature to be passive, but it is her nature to be stubborn, and she has long since decided that she would suffer anything for the sake of her prince. So she's determined to do this thing, no matter how unpleasant or undesirable, no matter how strange and alien it seems to her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pierce

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Asexual Awareness Week, 2013.
> 
> Prompt: "stories about ace people realising they’re ace / romance between an asexual character and a sexual character where they struggle to make it work because of their different needs / heteroromantic ace people / asexual women"
> 
> Originally posted at http://i-am-therefore-i-fight.tumblr.com/post/67542126292/pierce.

Ariel prepares for the day with no small amount of apprehension. She asks advice from all of her handmaidens, all the women with whom she surrounds herself in daily life, and over and over, she receives the same answer: just lie back and let him take what he wants. It’ll hurt. You’re a woman, it’s not supposed to feel good.

It’s not in her nature to be passive, but it is her nature to be stubborn, and she has long since decided that she would suffer anything for the sake of her prince. So she’s determined to do this thing, no matter how unpleasant or undesirable, no matter how strange and alien it seems to her.

When Eric discovers her in his room, flushed and rouged with her hair done up and her dressing robe hung over the back of a chair, he looks at her for a moment with a curious cocked head, taking stock of her nakedness and her resolute expression, then turns and calmly shuts the door behind him.

“Ariel,” he says once he’s turned back to her, “what are you doing?”

“I’m—” She doesn’t know what the right terminology is. The girls she spoke to used so many different words and phrases. “We’re married now. I thought you’d want to be inside me.”

Eric clasps his hands in the small of his back, his eyes steady on hers. “I would like that very much. But… I’m not certain you really understand what you’re asking.”

“I’m not asking. And I do understand. This is what humans do when they’re married. The women lie down and spread their legs and the men pierce them. It’s an important ritual.”

“That’s… not exactly all that there is.” He picks up her dressing robe from the back of the chair, moving to offer it to her. “Ariel, can we please talk about this?”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” she says, voice sharpening. “This is what I’m supposed to do, I know it is. You don’t have to treat me like a child.”

“I don’t want to treat you like a child.” He continues to hold the robe out to her, unwavering. “I want to treat you like a woman with strong opinions and a lot of thoughts in her head that I hope she’ll share with me before we… partake in this ritual.”

That seems to mollify her somewhat. Her stance softens, and she accepts the robe, sliding it around her shoulders and tying it with short flicks of her wrist. “Do humans always talk before they do this?”

“No, but they’d be better off if they would.” Eric perches on the edge of the bed and pats the mattress at his side. Ariel seats herself gracefully, with the kind of delicate ease that comes and goes from her movements, constantly alternating with almost comical clumsiness.

“Ariel, what exactly have you heard about this ‘ritual’?” he asks once she’s settled down.

“It’s what humans do when they like each other, or when they’re married, or when they want to have children, or when the man wants the woman to be his, or when the man has something the woman wants, or—”

“Okay, okay—” He holds up a hand to stem the flow of words. “Obviously you’ve had… mixed reports.”

“I had to talk to a lot of people,” she points out. “I’m still not really sure I understand how it works.”

“That’s okay. You and I can work that out between ourselves. But, Ariel—tell me again, what is it you think is the purpose of the ritual?”

“It’s what you do when you’re married.”

“But why?”

She shrugs. “That’s just the way it is with humans.”

“Ariel—” Eric places his hand lightly on top of hers. “The purpose of the ritual is to give pleasure. To both the man and the woman. And, if an heir is needed, to produce children. But—you shouldn’t do it just because it’s… traditional.”

She bristles. “I’m not. I’m doing it because it’s the human thing.”

“Well, I think there are probably a lot of humans out there who are doing it without really thinking about why, and that’s a shame. I don’t want it to be like that with us.” Stroking her fingers lightly, he picks her hand up and kisses it. “That’s what I’ve always loved about you, Ariel. That you ask questions. That you go your own way. That you always want to know _why_ things are the way they are. Don’t ever stifle that free spirit, no matter what anyone tells you about what’s expected of you. Alright?”

“I want to be a good wife to you,” she says quietly, her eyes lingering on their joined hands.

“I’d be lying if I said I don’t want that too,” he says, “but first you have to be _you_. Being a good wife has to come after that.”

She frowns. “What if I don’t like it? Doing the ritual. What if you need children but I’m being _me_ and I don’t want to do it?”

Reaching up, he tucks a loose lock of red hair behind her ear. “You’re always going to be you. And we’re going to have to figure out how to work with that, one way or another.”

“I’ll figure something out,” she says firmly. “I’ll find a way.”

“ _We’ll_ find a way,” he corrects, and she grins and lays her head on his shoulder.


End file.
